In 1893, James J. Hill's Northern Steamship Company built 385-foot ocean style passenger steamers. In 1911, the peak year, 80,000 passengers traveled to Lake Superior. After 1920, the number of passenger cruise ships diminished with the advent of "motor-cars." Very few cruise ships were still in service after World War II. The Canadian steel steamer Huronic was constructed in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1902. She ran on the Northern Navigation Division of the Canadian Steamship Company, on cruise trips from Detroit to Duluth. In 1940, the Huronic was dismantled and made into a package freighter.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This drawing identifies wind forces and their effects on the physical structure. Notes are included on this drawing for example: "Stresses in lower sections of tension diagonals equal or smaller than top sections, but same riveting to be used in detail." The drawing includes a key for live load, dead load, impact, wind at 150 pounds per linear foot, wind stress due to traveler, equivalent to live load. The drawing shows top and bottom laterals. Total weight of the carrier and car is given as 240,000 pounds. The scale is given as 20 feet equaling one inch. Drawing H5421, Sheet 3.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Detailed drawing of four parts of the Aerial Bridge. The end view is a drawing of a tower; part side elevation is of half of the Aerial Bridge with the suspended car transfer. The third drawing is called Section A-A and depicts a tower without the cross structures drawn in. The last drawing is called Section B-B, which is a top down view of one of the towers resting on its footings. All of these drawings have dimensions. The part side elevation includes a very small drawing of the side of the gondola car. The end view includes the phrase "car approaches built by city." The finials are shown on three of the four drawings. Drawing H5421, Sheet 2.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Ore boat leaving Duluth. Detroit Publishing Co. was a prolific post card publisher, especially in the U.S. Their cards were published from 1898 to 1933. Using a color process called Phostint, their cards were considered to be very artistic. The hobby of collecting post cards is called deltiology. The first post card was issued by the Austrian government, America's first postcards came out in 1873. Picture postcards were introduced later. The golden age of postcards was supposed to date from 1907 through the first World War.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This photograph may have been shot from Seventh Street and about Lake Avenue. The bright narrow strip in the lower middle of the image is Lake Avenue leading to the Aerial Bridge. The rectangle and three dots parallel to the piers of the canal are the remnants of the Whitney rock crushing enterprise. The Whitney Brothers, of Superior, Wisconsin, had a sand and gravel processing business that was functioning in 1919. The concrete form that is still in the water was the dredging/crushing building. A tunnel ran from the building to the Point. There was a conveyor belt and railroad spur adjacent to the concrete building. Sand from the Apostle Islands and gravel from Grand Marais were carried to Duluth on a small vessel named Limit. The business also used a tug the William A. Whitney. The Limit was secured to the concrete building and the load of sand or gravel was unloaded into the steel hopper using a jaw-like clam shell, steam powered device. The belt conveyed the materials to shore and it dropped into a tunnel where trucks were ready. On Federal lake charts it is referred to as cribs. Telephone lines are in this photograph. In 1880, the first telephones were installed in Duluth by Walter Van Brunt for C. H. Graves and Company. In 1881, the Duluth Telephone Company was incorporated with $10,000 capital. In 1882, the first telephone directory was issued for 30 subscribers. In 1898, long distance lines between Duluth, Cloquet and Carlton were strung. In 1899, Duluth had 794 telephones. In 1900, the Zenith telephone Company (independent) started operations in competition with Duluth Telephone Company. The tower is the Central High School clock tower. The 1892 school has been the Central Administration Building for ISD 709 since the late 1970s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Whaleback is an unusual ship design with steel hulls (body of the vessel) and rounded decks (boat, hurricane, main -which is the lowest full-length deck in a ship's hull, and spar are all decks at different levels) which was introduced by the inventor Captain Alexander McDougall of Duluth in 1888. It was a very stable vessel. American Steel Barge Company, a New York corporation engaged in shipbuilding and transportation on the Great Lakes as well as on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, purchased all of the patents for McDougalls whaleback vessels for $25,000. The only remaining whaleback is the Meteor, which is now a museum at Barker's Island in Superior, Wisconsin.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
No. 502 People have always watched the aerial bridge. Engineer C.A.P. Turner, of the Gillette-Herzog Manufacturing Company of Minneapolis, designed the Ferry Bridge with Suspended Car Transfer in February 1901, meeting federal specifications. Bids were opened March 25, 1901, but only one was received. The Duluth Canal Bridge Company was awarded the contract but abandoned the work. In February 1904, the Modern Steel Structural Company of Waukesha, Wisconsin was issued a contract. Work began July 20, 1904. On February 23, 1905, with a full complement of local dignitaries at hand, the bridge was first operated. Regular service began the next day according to newspaper accounts. The city engineer's report for 1905 stated that the bridge was "completed and commenced operation on May 5, 1905, and a few problems were corrected in running the bridge over the next few days." This post card was mailed in 1914.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of the garden, carriage house, and house built in 1905 at 2307 East Superior Street of First National Bank president and local philanthropist A. L. Ordean who died in 1928 at 72.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
View of the Georgian style house designed by Emmet S. Palmer and William A. Hunt architects and built in 1905 at 2307 East Superior Street for First National Bank president and local philanthropist A. L. Ordean who died in 1928 at 72.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The back of this photograph reads "Albert Olsen Grocery, Coates Street, about 1915." Coates Street, below Grand Avenue, ran from Thirty Fourth Avenue West to Thirty Seventh Avenue West.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
This view of the west side of Central Avenue facing north shows the Alhambra Theatre at 321 North Central Avenue in the center of the image. Other businesses include W.B. Getchell Real Estate, Olson and Beck Shoes, Swanstrom and Ericson Clothing.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections